


Railroad Workers

by Ytterbium



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU: Russia, Angst, Boy King of Hell Sam Winchester, M/M, Transsibirian Railroad Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 16:13:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9332933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ytterbium/pseuds/Ytterbium
Summary: „Do you want me to fuck you?“, Emmanuel asked.„ … What?“ Dean managed after a few seconds.„Do you. Want me. To fuck you?“, Emmanuel repeated. „Just curious.“That was it, Dean decided, that was most likely going to ruin him: this fucking indifference, this guy who was carrying Cas‘s face around, and now his voice sounded marble and plain. Cas who used to burn and burn with overconfidence and self-righteous anger, Cas who understood and had the decency to be kind, to care, and now he was offering things like that - like it didn't matter at all.„No“, Dean said at last.Emmanuel shrugged. „Your loss“, he said, and if Dean hadn‘t known better he‘d have thought the guy was flirting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will be updated as the story progresses. You can always ask me for additional warnings. There will be violence & general sadness. Tagged non-con because of identity loss reasons.

Dean was smoking black cigars; after the fourth or fifth he said „I've had a friend-“

„You've had friends?“, asked Mary mildly, and Dean stopped, and Kevin said, „Tell us the story, Dean“- Kevin almost still counted as a child.

„I've had a friend who wasn't a friend at all“, said Dean but what he meant by that he didn't tell.

 

 

They were way past Novosibirsk by then, poverty was breathing in the villages, naked children were working on scaffolds that steadily corroded in the blizzards, dogs froze to death in the woods. Dean could hear them howling at night, so pained and miserable he was tempted to find a gun or a piece of wood and help them to an end. Sometime last month winter had come over Russia - like always a slaughterous, suffocating thing. The temperature dropped below minus forty degree Celsius at night and most of the railroad workers were gone; home to see their families again or to find work some other place. The workers still there were mostly convicts who were too scared of Gabriel to make a run for it or didn‘t have anywhere to go and a few guys from Italy who slept among their horses and seemed to be immune against the cold.

 

They were sitting by the fire, Kevin, Dean and Mary, drinking mulled wine out of steaming cans and waiting for the northern lights to show.

Kevin was a convict but he was so young Gabriel didn't keep him locked up like the rest of them because maybe the guy had a heart after all. Kevin used to be an upper class kid from way east, in another life he could have been a doctor or a lawyer or whatever the hell he chose, wearing fine suits and a reputation for light cocktail parties and art. Now he was slowly working himself to death in the void between Novosibirsk and Lake Baikal, with no future to look forward to but the penal camp or buried six feet deep. He didn‘t even know what he was in for, a week after his fifteenth birthday they‘d broken down the door, dragged his mother out in her nightgown and shot her on the street.

Mary wasn‘t a convict and she was here with her fiancé, a quiet, suspiciously well-behaved guy named John who had once punched Dean so hard in the face he‘d carried that black eye around for a month. Mary insisted that they‘d been actors or circus artists but her story changed every other week and Dean never believed her in the first place. She hadn‘t told him why they were here and he would never ask, but Dean figured they were most likely anarchists with a price on their heads. Because one night they‘d all been really drunk, and Mary and Dorothy had started talking, and, well, Dean wasn‘t really into politics but then again he wasn‘t _that_ stupid and Charlie had told him about Dorothys adventures against monarchy a long time ago.

 

Ironically, Dean wasn‘t a convict either even though he had every reason to be. „So why are you here?“ Charlie had asked him the night he arrived and Gabriel put him in her trailer because somehow the guy just _knew._ Maybe he could smell it on him _,_ the thing Dean had tried  and failed to hide for years and years.

„Because it‘s not Moscow“, he‘d answered.

Charlie didn‘t ask for his story, not that night and not in the nights that would follow. But gradually Dean told her, not all of it and not the genuine truth but enough to make him feel human again. Dean didn‘t know what he would have done if it hadn‘t been for her and what he would do when she was gone. Because Kevin and Mary talked about leaving every other night now and Dean knew it wouldn‘t be long until Charlie would join them and then they would all be gone for good. And he would be alone again, the way he always was.

 

 

„...Dean?“

„What?“, Dean asked, realizing Kevin had been talking to him for some time now.

„What about your friend? Your story.“

„Nothing. Forget it. Can you hold my wine for me? I‘m gonna get Emmanuel.“

„I don‘t think that‘s such a good idea“, Mary started, but Dean didn‘t wait to hear the end. He got up and walked the few meters through the snow back to the trailers. Emmanuels trailer was glowing in the dark, he was among the only ones who were given a lamp. Dean entered without knocking.

„Doctor“, he said, and Emmanuel looked up from whatever he was mixing together on his table. He was wearing two different shades of wine red today that shouldn't ever be mixed, some sort of atrocious white alpine boots and his lab coat. Gabriel had picked him up five weeks ago in a small village, he wasn't really a doctor or anything, more of a poorly educated faith-healer but it wasn't like anybody cared. Join us, Gabriel had said, and Emmanuel did because apparently he was one of those guys who never said no and just went along with whatever happened because it didn't matter to them anyway.

„It's you again“, Emmanuel said, irritated. „Why are you here – again? I thought I had made myself clear that this trailer is under quarantine. Sick patients only?“

„I don't see anyone“, Dean said. It was true, all the stretchers were empty, stacked in a corner and not a single dying soul in sight.

„Well, no, not now, they're all gone, Gabriel sent them home.“

„How do you send someone home who's too weak to walk or talk or eat on their own?“

Emmanuel shrugged. „Someone came and carried them, I think? I didn't pay attention.“

„Yeah, you somehow never do“, said Dean and he didn't mean for it to sound so aggressive but it came out wrong all the same.

Emmanuel narrowed his eyes. „What do you want from me now? I'm sorry, I still can't remember your name“, he lied.

„It's Dean, doctor. And I thought maybe you'd like a drink, me and my friends are over by the fire and-“

„I'm not a drinker. Also, I'm a busy man“, Emmanuel said.

„Sure looks like. With all those patients and everything.“ Dean couldn‘t restrain himself- he couldn‘t.

„Alright. Fine. If I come with you will you stop being such a smartass?“

„Promise“, Dean said, grinning, and Emmanuel followed him out into the snow.

 

 

„Sure you don't want a drink?“, Dean asked as they were sitting beside the fire again and Emmanuel fumbled awkwardly with the buttons of his lab coat. Kevin had curled up beside the flames like a cat. Mary was ignoring them, the way she always was.

„My father died when he was about your age because of liver failure, so no, I don't.“

„Did he now?“

Emmanuel stared at Dean for a few seconds, then turned away. „He did, actually. Plus I‘m a doctor. Doctors don‘t drink.“

„You're not a doctor, you need a licence for that. Also you have to study medicine.“

„And how would you know that?“

„Because I've been to real doctors. I grew up in Moscow.“

„And what is a boy from Moscow doing as a trans-sibirian railway worker“ Emmanuel asked disbelievingly.

„I just love sickness and freezing to death.“

„Either that or you're a convict.“

„If I were a convict, don't you think Gabriel would keep me locked up?“

„Maybe he's got enough of your smartassery and wants you to run away. You do know there are easier ways to die. Or to get money.“

„Says the guy who joined us for fun.“

„Yes, but I'm a doctor. I actually enjoy helping people.“

„Do you now? Since when?“ Dean knew he was going too far- he knew. But there was something about this guy that he hated so much he couldn‘t see straight, something he would crush without a second thought.

„What's your problem, Dean?“, Emmanuel asked, more annoyed than hurt.

„I haven't got a problem“, Dean lied.

„Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Look, I can guess that you've had your fair share of rough, everybody around here does, just- don't make assumptions about my life, okay?“

„Okay. Whatever. Sorry, I guess.“

„Why are you doing this?“, Emmanuel asked. „You‘re always coming to me, asking if I want to hang out with you, Emmanuel come do this with me, Emmanuel come do that, and then you‘re just mean. You are allowed to leave me alone, you know.“

„I said I‘m sorry. Listen- You don‘t really know me and if you did you wouldn‘t like what you saw“, Dean said, „but I consider you a friend.“

„Looks like you‘re a shitty friend.“

„Looks like I am.“

„Anyway, I‘m going back to my trailer, doing actual doctors work“, Emmanuel said. „Please don‘t talk to me again unless you are terminally ill.“

 

„Now that went well“, Mary said as soon as Emmanuel had left.

„I think it was better than last time“, Kevin joined. „Do you insult him on purpose or is this just fun for you?“

„Shut up“, Dean said. „I‘m going to bed, I don‘t feel like watching northern lights tonight.“

 

 

 

Dean ran into Charlie on his way back to the trailer. It had started snowing again, small, hard flakes that bit in his face like tiny insects trying to eat him whole.

„Just snuck out from the convict‘s trailer“, Charlie said with a grin far too wide, and Dean grabbed her by the shoulders, hurried her up the stairs to their trailer and pushed her inside.

„You gotta be careful, sister.“ Dean closed the door behind her. „In case you haven‘t noticed, there‘s not really a place in the world for people like us“, he said into the dulling darkness of the windowless room.

„Calm down, Dean. There was no one around and we were wearing our clothes. Mostly“, Charlie whispered, and why she felt the need to whisper every time the lights went out Dean would never understand.

„Still. If you get caught, I‘ll fucking lose it“, Dean said and he meant it.

„No one‘s gonna catch us. Also, Gabe doesn‘t care.“

„You two on a nickname basis now?“

„Relax. I like him. He‘s kind of funny. In a mean sort of way.“

„He‘s a fucking psychopath. Why else would you volunteer to supervise a bunch of asshole railroad workers, half of them convicts and the other half criminals trying to escape justice in the middle of the sibirian winter.“

„You volunteered to be here, too“, Charlie pointed out, but Dean could hear a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. „Really, Dean, calm down. It will be fine. Anyway. I talked to Dorothy, and we‘re leaving.“

Dean could hear his heartbeat in his ears, fast and loud. Charlie had to hear it, too.

„Dorothy owns a hot-air balloon, she really does“, said Charlie. Dean could see her silhouette now, a dark shadow against the firelight that was shimmering through the cracks in the walls. „We could go south or to the Japanese Sea, or to Moscow, see the tsar.“

„I'm not going back to Moscow.“ It came out sharper than he‘d intended but if Charlie noticed she didn‘t pick him up on it.

„The Japanese Sea it is then. We could cross the ocean, go to Korea or Japan, Dorothy says they have little houses made of paper and velvet and glittery dust.“

„I'm not leaving“, said Dean.

Charlie sighed. „Dean it‘s winter. There are northern lights- do you know what northern lights mean? They mean you're too far north. In less than a month, people here will freeze to death. Kevin and the lovebirds are coming, too. You should join us. There's still enough space in the balloon, but we need to do it now because Gabriel seems to suspect something and if Dorothy doesn't leave now they'll probably come for her-“

„You go“, Dean said and if that wasn't the hardest thing he'd ever done. „I have to stay, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.“

„It's because of Emmanuel, isn't it? I knew- I _knew_ it was. You've been acting like a freak since he got here.“

Dean didn‘t answer and that was enough for her.

„I can‘t believe this“, Charlie said. „Look, I know he‘s really pretty, and you think right now he‘s the one, but his blue eyes are not worth dying for. I promise you, once we‘re in Japan we‘ll find us an underground bar and you smile that smile of yours and there will be others-“

„It‘s not like that“, Dean interrupted her.

„Then enlighten me.“

„It‘s nothing. Just- He reminds me of someone.“

„He reminds you of someone“, Charlie repeated, barely containing the anger in her voice „so what?“

„He looks like someone I knew. Who died back in Moscow. I mean- _really_ looks like him. They could be freaking twins. And I think- maybe-“ He couldn't say it out aloud, he knew how it sounded. Like he‘d lost it months ago and there‘d be nothing for him to go back to but the mental home. But Charlie got it all the same.

„Dean“, she started, her voice saturated with sadness and something akin to love, but Dean said, „Charlie, I have to know. I can't leave, I _need to know_.“


End file.
